Tobacco spreading means for cigarette forming machines



C. W. MLLER April 2, 1940. 2,195,780

'rBAcco SPREADING MEANS FOR CIGARETTE FORMING MACHINES Filed Oct. 50, 1937 .Patented Apr. 2, 1940 PATENT lOFFICE.

TOBACCO 'SPREADING lVIEANS FOR'CIGA- RETTE FORMING v MACHINES Carl Wilhelm Mller, Dresden-Weisser Hirsch,

f Germany Application October 30, 1937, SerialNo. 171,974` In Germany May 12, 1,937

' 6 Claims.

It is a well-known fact that it has not been possible to produce a perfectly uniform-rod of tobacco in cigarette rodmachines because' the spiked or carded jroll', provided in the tobacco 3 spreading device, for receiving ythe tobacco from the tobacco stock and feedingit to theA rod trough reither directly or by means of a conveyor band, was charged unevenly with tobacco on its periph- J ery.- Attempts have been made to eliminate this w disadvantage by endeavouring to4 force the tobacco into the spaces between teeth of theroll `by means of stamps or the like devices.- However, such devices proved to be not entirely satisfactory, because at the same time the stamps also 15 pressed down on the points of the teeth and, even if the stampsv did not come into contact with rthe teeth, although the tobacco in the top layer was compressed, an e'ven condition of the tobacco within the entire space between the teeth was *W not attained. Attempts have also already been made to provide behind the carded roll devices whereby the tobacco from the carded roll was subsequently brought to a uniform compactness. These devices, however, have failed to give per- 'u fectly satisfactory results, and merely complicated the construction of the machine.

The object of the present invention is to make the filling within the carded roll-perfectly even, softhat .a perfectly uniform tobacco fleece passes 30 into the rod trough. For this purpose, the tobacco taken up by the carded roll is pressed into the corners between the teeth and the periphery of the roll by special stopping means operating independently of one another between u the individual rows of teeth, and the upper space thereby becoming vacant between the teeth is filled with tobacco by a second lling device. This operation may be repeated a number of times on the receiving roll. With this device, it

o is at the same time also possible to use longer teeth which receive longer fibres, filling the rod better and making the cigarettes lighter.

v Two constructions of the invention arev shown by way of example in the accompanying drawa ing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of the arrangement of the first construction,

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic plan of part of Fig.r

1 and w Figure 3 shows another construction, likewise in diagrammatic side view.

In the drawing, a is the carded or spiked roll constructed in known manner, to which the tobacco is fed by a conveyor b. The roll moves past a stripping roll c which is also carded. The

know be lled.

tobacco, however, does not lie uniformly between the teeth, but on the contrary, it is partly tightly packed and partly loosely packed, so that if the tobacco carried along by the roll ais removed in the usual manner and brought upon the con- 5 veyor band, an uneven fleece is obtained. According to the invention, there are now disposed between the individual rows of teeth, devices which compress the tobacco uniformly and. force it into the cornersA between the teeth and the periphery ofv the roll.r In the constructional example zaccording to Figure 1, kthis purpose is served `by levers d, the free front ends of which levers dare of wedge-shaped construction and which levers d are pressed by springs e against the roll a. In Figure 2, the individual rows of -teeth situated on the periphery of the roll a are rindicated by chain lines and rectangles shown in .dotted lines, which are intended to designate the teeth, and itlmay be seen that a lever d lies between each pair of rows of teeth. All the levers are disposed, with the interposition of distance pieces f, on a common spindle y mounted in the wall of the spreader. Likewise, all the springs e may be secured to a common cross-bar h.

By the .pressing of the' tobacco into the corners between the teeth and the periphery cf the roll, a space is vformed in which further tobacco can This tobacco is supplied for example by a conveyor band i to the space behind the levers d. It is taken up by the carded roll, and a second stripper roll k is provided for removing the excess tobacco. The completely and uniformly filled carded roll is now able to transfer the tobacco which is carried by it, and which is beaten out of it by the beater roll m, `to the conveyor band n which conveys the tobacco to the rod trough. Of course, it is also possible to dispose `the rod trough directly below the beater roll m, and therefore the tobacco may fall directly from the carded roll into the rod trough,

The construction shown in Figure 3 diers from the construction first described by the fact that instead of feeding the tobacco by the conveyor band b and the lling by means ofthe stripping roll c, a ready-formed tobacco eece is fed by a conveyor band o. This tobacco fleece may be formed in any desired manner, for example on a preceding receiving roll,stripping roll and beater roll or by other means known per se. 'I'he tobacco 50 eece is taken up by the carded roll and is now compressed in the space between the teeth by the device according to the invention, y In this case, two lever-like devices acting `on the tobacco are provided, namely two rows of 55 sprung remmers p and q which are directed obliquely to the periphery of the roll a and which are distributed over the entire width of the roll a and project between the individual rows :of teeth. All the raminers p are pivoted about a common spindle r and all the rammers q about a common spindle s. 'Ihe rammers are pressed against the drum a by springs t and u respectively. In other respects, the device operates like that shown in the first ccnstructional eX- ample.

Of course, the invention may be carried into effect constructionally in other ways. Any desired and known method of feeding the tobacco to 'the toothed roll may be employed. Likewisc any desired method of feeding the additional tobacco behind the compacting devices d or p and q may be employed. Likewise, the forni of the rarnn'iers or the like for pressing the tobacco into the space between the teeth may be cf any desired kind, thus for example the sprung levers or rods may be replaced by rollers provided with rainmers or by endless bands or the like.

I claim:

l. A tobacco spreading device comprising, in combination with a carded roll having a plurality of rows o teeth and adapted to receive the tobacco, a nlling device for feeding tobacco to the roli, means adapted to press the tobacco received into the corners between the teeth and the periphery of the roll, and a second filling device adapted to rell the upper space between the tes-th becoming vacant by the action of said means.

2. A tobacco spreading device comprising, in combination with a carded roll having a plurality of rows of teeth and adapted to receive the tobacco, a filling device for feeding tobacco to the roll, stopping means operating independently of one another between the individual rows ci teeth and adapted to press the tobacco received into the corners between the teeth and the periphery of the roll, and a second lling device adapted to refill the upper space between the teeth becoming vacant by the action of said means.

3. A tobacco spreading device comprising, in combination with a carded roll having a plurality of rows of teeth and adapted to receive the tobacco, a filling device for feeding tobacco to the roll, individual, independently sprung levers operating between the individual rows of teeth and adapted to press the tobacco received into the corners between the teeth and the periphery of the roll, and a second lling device adapted to rell the upper space between the teeth becoming vacant by the action of said means.

4. A tobacco spreading device comprising, in combination with a carded roll having a plurality of rows of teeth and adapted to receive the tobacco, a filling device for feeding tobacco to the roll, individual, independently sprung levers operating between the individual rows of teeth and having wedge-shaped ends facing the roll and serving for packing the tobacco between the teeth and the periphery of the roll, and a second lling device adapted to reiill the upper space between the teeth becoming vacant by the action of said means.

5. A tobacco spreading device comprising, in combination with a carded roll having a plurality oi rows of teeth and adapted to receive the tobacco, filling means for feeding tobacco to the roll, a plurality of rows of means operating yieldingly and independently of one another between the individual rows of teeth and adapted to press the tobacco received into the corners between the teeth and the periphery of the roll, and a second filling means adapted to refill the upper space between the teeth which have become vacant by the action of said yielding means.

6. A tobacco spreading device comprising, in combination with a carded roll having a plurality of rows of teeth and adapted to receive the tobacco, a filling device for feeding tobacco to the roll, a plurality of rows of means operating independently of one another between the individual rows of teeth and adapted to press the tobacco received into the corners between the teeth and the periphery of the roll, and a second filling device adapted to refill the upper space between the teeth becoming vacant by the action of said means.

CARL WILHELM MLLER. 

